HEATHER TOSTESON, a writer and visual artist, is the author, most recently, of Breathing in Portuguese, Living in English (2014), a poetry collection and Germs of Truth (2014), a short story collection. She is the author of four other books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and has co-edited nine Wising Up anthologies, including Connected: What Remains as We All Change and Complex Allegiances: Constellations of Immigration, Citizenship & Belonging. She has received a Nation/Discovery prize for her poetry and fellowships for poetry, fiction, and photography from MacDowell, Yaddo, VCCA and Hambidge. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (UNC-Greensboro) and Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing (Ohio University). She has worked extensively in the public health and the health sciences as a writer, editor, and researcher. She is the founder, with Charles Brockett, of Wising Up Press and the Wising Up Press Writers Collective.